Cloth rack



H. BOOTH April' 3, 1951 CLOTH RACK 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. 28, 1946INVENTOR /viu 007.

ATTORN EY H. BOOTH CLOTH RACK April 3, 1951 "s Sheets-Sheet 2 FiledSept. 28, 1946 INVENTOR me Y 500775. B Z

TTORNEY H. BOOTH CLOTH RACK 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Sept. 28, 1946 Q w dm m 2, MW m 0 I n m---- R 1 l atented Apr. 3;

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,547,558 7 I cL'oTH Rack Henry Booth, Bonnville fi assignor to Henrylioqth Methods Corporation, New York,

N. Y., a corporation of Delaware Application SeptemberZS, 1946, SerialNo. 700,124

4 Claims. (cl. 312E198) My invention relates to cloth racks and. moreparticularly to a combined display and storage rack for housing lengthsof fabrics in a c.011-

venient, expeditious, space-saving and eye-appealing manner.

Heretofore in the establishments of merchant tailors, bolts of fabricswere stored on shelves. when the tailor desired to show cloth .to a.prospective customer, it was necessary for him to remove a bolt andunroll a length of cloth for the customers inspection. This is atime-Icon- -sulming and burdensome .task and fails to display the clothto its best advantage. Furthermo're, the bolts of cloth become dusty andfrequently become soiled from handling. Due to the difficulty ofhandling bolts of cloth, the practice of showing swatches was adopted bymany tailors. A fragment of cloth, however, fails to display the overalleffect of the texture, color and design of the fabric or to create theim- Another object of my invention is to provide an inf-proved clothrack for dis-playing lengths offab'r'ic. each of which 'isof suflici-entlength for a suit of clothes for ready and accessible inspection by aprospective-customer.

Another object of my invention is to provide a elothrack for displayinga large number of different fabrics in a manner to maintain the fabricsclean and free from dust.

A further object of my invention is to provide a combined cloth housingand display rack which will occupy a minimum area inamerchant tailorsestablishment. 7

Other and further objects of my invention will appear from the followingdescription.

In general my invention contemplates the pro-'- visicin of a pluralityof angularly disposed housings adjacent a wall of a merchant tailor sestablishment, sales'room or the like. Each =housing is provided withone or several sliding panels or frames. -Each pane1 is providedwithfme'ans :for supporting a length of suiting sufficientifor ,a-suitof clothes. supporting means Iprefer are hinged brackets adjacent thetop of each frame. The brackets overlap so that a large number oflengths of cloth may besup'pjorted fr om;a singlepanel. The pivoting ofth v g H V racket willpermit a particular length of cloth to beinspected in detail. When not in use the panel is adapted to be rolledinto its housing.

In the accompanying drawings which form part of the instantspecification and which are to be r ad in cniii c n her w h a n h c likereference numerals are used to indicate like carts i the arious vieFigure 1 is a perspective view showing my improved cloth rack withvarious panels in housed and part ly ned o t ;Figure 2 is a perspectiveview of my improved rack showing the panel construction.

Figure ,3 is 9, fragmentary view of a detail of a panel drawn on anenlarged scale.

figure 4 is a top plan View with partsin section.

.;Ei gure 5 is a sectional view taken along the line fl5 5 qfFigure 4drawn on an enlarged scale.

Figurefi is a. fragmentary sectional view showing the panel supportingstructure.

More part u a ly referr n now to the drawings; I provide a. --pluralityof angularly disposed housings I, .2, 3 and 4 constructed adjacent awall 5 of a display room. In the ceiling of the room or in a falseelling 6, I s p in any suitable manner, a plurality of channel irons Ihaving their lower ends 8 and 9 bent upwardly .to form tracks as canreadily be seen by reference to Figures 5 and 6. The track channels Iare :shown supportedby brackets In which are bolted to the overheadbuilding structure by means of bolts I]. ;The overhead structure whichmay be the ceiling or false ceiling 6 is provided with a .plurality ofslots :12 to permit the panel suspension to slide freely into and out ofthe housing alongathe tracks. V

,A-plura'lity-of carriages l3 aresupported by a number of wheels isjournaled onsuitable axles 15. The wheels! are adapted to ride in theguidewaysl. "Eanelsorjrames l6 aresupported :from .the carriages 13 :bymeans of suspension rods H. isecured to each end of the frame ,or

panel iii-in any suitable manner as by bolts 20, .aitea'pair'oflbracketsql 8. Ascan readily'be seen by reference to Figures -3 and 6,the brackets I8 are secured ;to the suspension rods l'! of ';th e car--riagesg lz3=by nuts [5, :thelower-ends of the suspen- .seen'byreferencetto Figures-2 and ;3. The brackets are positioned so that they no rrna11y Ove ap .onelanotheras shown in figure 4i. Each bracket m y e .ofany d s r d len th. thou h re e to makeeach bracket about the length ofhalf .of the width .ofp-a 'bQ1t ;Qf cloth. The length of thefra-me' .orpanelis such that a length of suit Zing. say 13% yardsetc .4-yards,;suitable for one suit .cr: clothes, may {be readily draped over.each hanger.

Within each housing I provide guide members 24 into which the lowerrails 25 of the frames or panels depend. The guide rail limits theamplitude of motion of, the lower rails of the frames 3 though theclearance between the guide members 24 and the lower rails is sufficientfor frictionless movement.

For purposes of illustration and not by way of limitation, I have showneach housing with two sliding frames. It is to be understood that asingle sliding frame may be employed or a greater number than two ifdesired. Similarly, any suit- 7 In use the panels or frames are pulledout one at a time and lengths of cloth 28 are draped on the hangers 22such that the lengths of cloth hang the full length of the panel. Theupper end of each cloth length may be pinned, basted or secured in anysuitable manner. Each frame is filled and my improved rack is ready foruse. Normally at night or when the establishment is closed the racks areslid to housed position as shown in Figure 1 by the racks in housing I.A length of fabric on an individual hanger may be readily inspected byswinging the bracket hanger away from the rail. The brackets extend insuch direction that should one or more be inadvertently extended, thesliding of the panel to housed position will automatically swing thebracket adjacent the rail. The entire stock of fabrics can be inspectedvery quickly, simply and conveniently. The labor of carrying bolts ofcloth is eliminated. The risk of soiling cloth is greatly minimizedinasmuch as, the inspection is visual and handling is reduced and insome cases eliminated entirely. V

It will be observed that I have accomplished the objects of myinvention. I have provided a novel, improved cloth rack for displayingfabrics and housing them in a manner to reduce handling. The inspectionof a large piece of cloth gives the prospective customer a more accurateappraisal of how a suit of clothes will look when tailored from thefabric. This cannot be conveyed by the inspection of swatches and to aless customer wishes such inspection as may be the case inestablishments using artificial lighting. My cloth rack occupies aminimum amount of space and eliminates expensive and unappealingshelving. The display of fabrics in my cloth rack enhances theappearance of a tailors establishment or showroom and saves time notonly for the merchant tailor but also for prospective customers who caninspect a large number of fabrics almost'at a glance.

It will be understood that certain features and sub-combinations are ofutility and may be employed without reference to other features andsub-combinations. This is contemplated by and is within the scope of myclaims. It is further obvious that various changes may be made indetails within the scope of my claims without departing from the spiritof my invention. It is therefore understood that my invention is not tobe limited to the specific details shown and described.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A cloth rack including in combination a plurality of housings mountedin substantially vertical position adjacent the side wall of a buildingstructure, a common roof formed with a plurality of elongated slots,said roof extending over the housings, each housing being laterallydisplaced from its adjacent housing and forming substantially the sameangle with the side wall, a plurality of guide tracks mounted above theroof, each guide track extending over and beyond its respective housingand in overlapping relation to an adjacent housing, carriages mountedupon the guide tracks for movement therealong, frames, means extendingthrough the slots for suspending the frames from the carriages formovement into and out of respective housings, and a plurality ofbrackets each adapted to support a length of cloth mounted upon each ofthe frames adjacent the upper portions thereof.

2. A cloth rack as in claim 1 in which the brackets are pivoted anddisposed in position to overlap when lying adjacent the frame.

3. A cloth rack as in claim 1 in which each of the frames is providedwith a closure strip carried by the frame, the closure strip adapted toclose the housing when the frame is moved to housed position.

4. A cloth rack including in combination a plurality of housings, a rooffor each housing formed with a plurality of elongated slots, a pluralityof guide means positioned above each of the roofs and extending over andbeyond each of the housings, carriages mounted on respective guide meansfor movement therealong, a plurality of frames for each housing, meansextending through the slots for suspending respective frames from thecarriages for independent movement into and out of each housing, aplurality of brackets carried by respective frames adjacent upperportions thereof for supporting respective lengths of cloth, each of thehousing and frame assemblies being disposed adjacent a side wall of abuilding structure in substantially the same angular relation therewithand positioned substantially adjacent each other so that a frame, whenextended, will overlap an adjacent hous- HENRY BOOTH.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 133,359 Darley Nov. 26, 1872417,959 Welton Dec. 24, 1889 564,949 Sumner July 28, 1896 997,866 SmithJuly 11, 1911 1,073,854 Helmer Sept. 23, 1913 1,485,200 Roberts et al.Feb. 26, 1924 1,713,147 Ruze May 14, 1929' 1,802,102 Zeigler et al. Apr.21, 1931 1,835,744 Austin Dec. 8, 1931 1,841,620 McCoy Jan. 19, 19321,853,061 Judelson Apr. 12, 1932 1,863,030 Ruwitch June 14, 19322,118,342 Dillon May 24, 1938

